A global consumer default wave is just getting started in China
As Covid-19 works its way through the rest of Asia, Europe and the Americas — forcing countries into lockdown, driving up unemployment and pummeling small-business owners — analysts say it’s only a matter of time before stretched households globally start to default on their loans. The early indicators from China aren’t pretty. Overdue credit-card debt swelled last month by about 50% from a year earlier, according to executives at two banks who asked not to be named discussing internal figures.
An unprecedented withdrawal of capital from emerging markets is threatening to create a wave of debt defaults. t.co/2lZAh033Bn via @WSJ
— Stare Decisis (@MsResJudicata) March 29, 2020
Credit card delinquencies up 50%. Just imagine the carnage to come here in the states as US households have piled into unsecured debt in the current cycle. t.co/6ujw32CAfv pic.twitter.com/sJQARyzFBq
— Danielle DiMartino Booth (@DiMartinoBooth) March 29, 2020
Especially when you factor in this bailout/stimulus package in which individuals will get a measly $1,200 check (which barely covers a month's worth of rent) in compensation for losing their job or business.
What's $1,200 going to do?
That's bupkis, that's peanuts!
— Jesse Colombo (@TheBubbleBubble) March 29, 2020
The Second Economic Shockwave Is Hitting #China’s Factories Already
European, U.S. firms canceling orders and delaying payment
China looking at 10% export contraction in 2020: Macquariet.co/W5lwQLyouw pic.twitter.com/WlFUYqr9KI
— 𝕮𝖍𝖎 🛢️ (@chigrl) March 29, 2020
Downgrade cycle under way in corporate bonds.
$81bn worth of debt in the Bloomberg Barclays HY Index has been downgraded in March alone, according to Citi. That's the biggest monthly amount on record, and not far from the record *annual* amount of $105bn back in 2002.
— Tracy Alloway (@tracyalloway) March 29, 2020
"US household balance sheets were already vulnerable before the virus..With 25% of US workers making less than $600 a week, how deep this recession will be depends importantly on how long time it will take before the stimulus money arrives into the hands of consumers:" DB's Slok pic.twitter.com/Kr4GyxK6uj
— Lisa Abramowicz (@lisaabramowicz1) March 29, 2020
h/t davidstockmans